Saturday, 24 May 2014

Near Saltbox Hill

So, I was out doing some botanising for the London Flora Project, but I couldn't resist some of the invertebrates that were also out there. This butterfly looks very like a greenish leaf when it puts its wings up, though it's such a pure yellow from another angle that it has been said that this is where the "butter" part of the name came from.

Cream Wave, Scopula floslactata. Monad 4061, 19 May 2014.

To my surprise, I saw three different moths along one short path between a small wood and the Saltbox Hill Local Nature Reserve. This subtly marked Cream Wave, which is rare in light traps, was just resting near the ground. I caught another smaller and brighter moth in my hand as it fluttered and photographed it in a plastic tube that I usually carry with me for such a possibility.

Alabonia geoffrella. Oecophoridae. Caught in my hand in a hedgerow in monad 4061. 19 May 2014.

But it's not all lepidoptera. I took this last one because it looked good. It's the developing berry head of a Cuckoo-pint, which I showed the flower of as recently as the end of April. By now, the leaves are dying back, and these berries will be bright red and vermilion later on.

Cameras, Photographs

Many of the earlier photos on this blog were taken with a Canon Ixus 100 camera; tiny and really quite good. The coin photos and some earlier closeups were taken with a Canon EOS 450D and a Canon EF 100mm macro lens.

On 30 June 2011 I got an EOS 60D, and closeups after that up to mid-May 2012 were taken with this camera and the 100mm macro lens. Then I got an EOS 5D Mark III, a camera with a full-frame sensor, which was used from mid-May 2012. From January 2013 I started to use an EOS 6D, also full-frame, but lighter and with built-in GPS. By this time I had a new Canon 100mm macro lens with image stabilisation, which is very helpful for my handheld shots. Currently, as from mid-August 2015, I have an EOS 5DS, a wonderful camera.

Clicking on a photo will bring up a carousel of the photos from that posting.